A dental articulator assists in the fabrication of removable prosthodontic appliances (dentures), fixed prosthodontic restorations (crowns, bridges, inlays and onlays) and orthodontic appliances. In the fabrication of dental prosthetics, a negative impression is made of the teeth of a dental patient using a plastic material. The negative impression is then filled with a hardenable material to form a die. The die is affixed to a base formed of similar hardenable material to form a dental model. A dental model articulator is used to correlate upper and lower dental models in the forming and adjustment of the dental prosthesis.
The model is used by a technician to determine the optimum shape and position for the prosthetic to work in conjunction with the patient's other teeth and normal jaw motion. The articulator is important because it replicates the basic pivot action of the upper and lower mandibles, as well as translational motions. A prosthetic can then be inserted into the model to confirm that its proposed design and intended installed position should work properly in the patient's mouth, before placement of the prosthetic in the patient's mouth. In some cases, the model may be used to prepare a template or a guide to help the dentist place the implant and/or prosthetic in the patient's mouth.
Examples of commonly used articulators are commercially available from Dentsply Ceramco (the Vertex® product) and Orbix Dental Products (U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,688).
CAD/CAM dentistry (Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing in dentistry) is an area of dentistry utilizing an imaging camera, a computer, and a mill to produce fixed dental prosthetics, such as dental crowns and bridges. In CAD/CAM dentistry, the dental model is scanned, and the prosthetic is designed within software. To scan a dental model, the upper model and the lower model are scanned separately. These two half models must be registered to create a complete virtual dental model. Registration is done virtually or by scanning the models with the articulator to obtain by scan the necessary registration and articulation axis information.